Immigrants and Gall
I favor a path to legalization for immigrants. Even the illegal ones. I don't want to kick them all out: it would serve no serious purpose and would be impossible.
I wouldn't even be opposed to a path to citizenship. Yes, even for illegal aliens who otherwise qualify. They should not get access to such a path as easily as those who did not break the law, but still: even if I thought illegal immigration made you a terrible person, I'd still have to look at the big picture, which is that our country can best assimilate a large group of immigrants over time by making some of them fully participating members of society.
But I don't want to dwell on this: my point here is only that I am not some anti-immigrant zealot.
However, when you are here illegally, and you fly an American flag upside down, or tell me that you have a "right" to be in this country (whatever your reason is), or that I am bad for not making you legal (or a citizen!) immediately, that I am un-American for wanting some sort of control of the problem (and please don't tell me it's not a problem, I lived in California for almost 10 years), or that I am committing a "crime against humanity" by "persecuting" you when you break the law ...
When you have the gall to demand legalization or even citizenship, as though you are in any position to make any demands ...
Well, I get annoyed.
And I am even sickened these days just by seeing them carry American flags right-side-upw, because I am well aware it's a publicity stunt. Some of them mean it, but many of them realized last year all the Mexican flags looked bad, so now they are carrying American flags to get on our good side, and frankly, it has an opposite effect on me at this point, especially when I see maps of Aztlan alongside the flags.
Look. I don't mind you saying you want to be a legal resident or citizen. I want you to, too. But don't pretend you have the moral high ground here. Remember, you have no right to be here. You really don't. And you are here increasing my taxes, and you are doing it all illegally. You really are. Yes, I know you contribute positively, too: you are mostly wonderful people who work hard, and reduce the costs of goods and services, and just want to provide for your family.
I get it. I don't dislike you. But I am on your side here, and yet you stupidly alienate me with your nonsensical rhetoric that comes from the imagined position that you are being wronged. You're not being wronged. You have the opportunity to work and to earn, and you are prospering. And this is our country, and you are our guests, and we have every right to kick you out, and it would not be wronging you to do so.
But we aren't kicking you out. We don't want to kick you out. We want to make it work. But you make it harder to make it work by treating us like we are the problem.
I wouldn't even be opposed to a path to citizenship. Yes, even for illegal aliens who otherwise qualify. They should not get access to such a path as easily as those who did not break the law, but still: even if I thought illegal immigration made you a terrible person, I'd still have to look at the big picture, which is that our country can best assimilate a large group of immigrants over time by making some of them fully participating members of society.
But I don't want to dwell on this: my point here is only that I am not some anti-immigrant zealot.
However, when you are here illegally, and you fly an American flag upside down, or tell me that you have a "right" to be in this country (whatever your reason is), or that I am bad for not making you legal (or a citizen!) immediately, that I am un-American for wanting some sort of control of the problem (and please don't tell me it's not a problem, I lived in California for almost 10 years), or that I am committing a "crime against humanity" by "persecuting" you when you break the law ...
When you have the gall to demand legalization or even citizenship, as though you are in any position to make any demands ...
Well, I get annoyed.
And I am even sickened these days just by seeing them carry American flags right-side-upw, because I am well aware it's a publicity stunt. Some of them mean it, but many of them realized last year all the Mexican flags looked bad, so now they are carrying American flags to get on our good side, and frankly, it has an opposite effect on me at this point, especially when I see maps of Aztlan alongside the flags.
Look. I don't mind you saying you want to be a legal resident or citizen. I want you to, too. But don't pretend you have the moral high ground here. Remember, you have no right to be here. You really don't. And you are here increasing my taxes, and you are doing it all illegally. You really are. Yes, I know you contribute positively, too: you are mostly wonderful people who work hard, and reduce the costs of goods and services, and just want to provide for your family.
I get it. I don't dislike you. But I am on your side here, and yet you stupidly alienate me with your nonsensical rhetoric that comes from the imagined position that you are being wronged. You're not being wronged. You have the opportunity to work and to earn, and you are prospering. And this is our country, and you are our guests, and we have every right to kick you out, and it would not be wronging you to do so.
But we aren't kicking you out. We don't want to kick you out. We want to make it work. But you make it harder to make it work by treating us like we are the problem.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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